tennis roundup

Atlanta Tennis Championship

JOHNS CREEK, Ga.

A weather siren sounded on the nearby Atlanta Athletic Club golf course as John Isner prepared to serve on match point against Kevin Anderson. Lightning was in the area. The appropriate answer was one final booming serve from the 6-foot-9 Isner. Isner had 20 aces as he survived another challenge to his endurance, beating the heat and Anderson 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 6-3 to advance to the Atlanta Tennis Championships final. With the siren wailing, Isner unleashed a service winner to end the match. Isner will face the winner of Saturday night’s match between top seed Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish in today’s final.

Slovenia Open

PORTOROZ, Slovenia

Anna Chakvetadze reached her first final in nearly two years, beating local star Polona Hercog 0-6, 6-2, 6-2. The Russian will play for the title against Sweden’s Johanna Larsson, who advanced to her first WTA final when Ksenia Pervak of Russia retired with a wrist injury while trailing 6-2, 1-0. Chakvetadze won the last of her seven WTA titles in 2008. A top-five player in 2007, she’s fallen to 103 in the rankings. “I haven’t expected such a success,” Chakvetadze said, but the final “is a nice reward for my efforts to get back among the best players of the world.”The seventh-seeded Hercog, playing before her home crowd, said she missed her chances. Besides, Chakvetadze was forcing a quick rhythm, said the only seed to reach the last four. “She didn’t let me breathe.”

Associated Press